Bremen's first 10/20 adventure at the Borg

[Bremen]

I finally took the plunge and played 10/20 at the Borgata. First impressions were that this game plays very similiar to the 6/12. A few players were a tad more aggresive than I'm used to, but nothing 2/4 online didn't prepare me for. $2 seemed to be a minimum tip for many players, with $3 or more quite common. The high limit room was also very nice with plenty of room between tables (if you can consider 10/20 high limit).

Some of the more memorable hands:

I raise AJs from early position and get a couple cold callers. Flop comes T93 with two of my suit. I bet out, 1 caller followed by a raise. Since the caller is a huge calling station I think for a second and raise for value. It comes back to me capped. Turn bring a Q which gives me an OESD as well. River brings the suited 8 and I checkraise (unfortunately villain went all-in for 15 on river, but the calling station still did what he does best.)

On another hand I finally won a pot at the Borg that was capped preflop (up to this point I have always been outdrawn). I raised AA UTG and got raised by a semi laggy player, one of the blinds calls and I cap. Flop is AT9 two diamonds. I bet, get raised by laggy player, I decide against slowing down due to the draw heavy board and raise. Hand holds up on the river.

On another hand I had AA against A9 with a board of A9x and a 9 on the river. If I had realized it at the time I would have inserted a Rounders quote there, especially since the A9 player was all-in :0)

Last the hand I got lucky. There was a somewhat aggresive player at the other end who kept waiting till the turn to raise all my good hands (when they didn't connect with the flop). Naturally I was quite annoyed and decided to try and trap him. I see Q4s in EP and decide to try it (can you say tilt?). He coldcalls as do a couple others. I flop the nut flush. Unfortunately since the A and K were on the board he didn't give much action despite claiming to hold a set (he might have had two pair as well). He went into calldown mode when a 4th diamond hit the turn. Needless to say there were quite a few surprised people when I showed down Q4s. I spend the next couple hands trying to decide if mixxing up my play like that is +EV or not. Regardless, the hand marked the turnaround of a 25BB slide.

In the end I finished up 15BB/7hrs after first going up 25BB in 3 hours and then losing 25BB in 2.

[Mike Gallo]

In the end I finished up 15BB/7hrs after first going up 25BB in 3 hours and then losing 25BB in 2.

I know the swings in that game.

Play in that game as long as you handle dropping a dime, financially and emotionaly .

[noir]

Clearly Gallo knows what he's talking about.
The second time I played in that game I was down about 800 in three hours, and the table wasn't nearly as wild as the first time I played it.

[sfer]

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The high limit room was also very nice with plenty of room between tables (if you can consider 10/20 high limit).

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You can eat in that room, which is a nice perk.

[MisterKing]

Good post, and glad to see some fellow 6/12ers taking a shot at the bigger game. I did so once when I was pumped up a few racks from the 6/12 game, and enjoyed it but really just broke even over a few hours. The 10/20 didn't seem much different at all, though there were one or two tighter players on my left that were much better than most guys you'd see in the 6. I tried to overcompensate for what I expected would be increased aggression, and cost myself a few BB in profit as a result (overplaying TPNK in one spot, and second pair in another).

Since losing a dime, as Mike G says, would be really, really annoying, I probably will stay out of this game for the forseeable future except when I'm up a bunch in the smaller games, AND when the 10's look really juicy, in which case I'll do an occasional hit and run.

[Bremen]

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Since losing a dime, as Mike G says, would be really, really annoying, I probably will stay out of this game for the forseeable future

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At present if I lose a buyin ($500) I'm going back to 6/12 for some confidence boosting. I do have a 300BB roll, and I'm confident I can beat the game, so I'm not sure I would stay at 6/12 very long except to prevent tilting off another buyin.

[poker327]

Mike is right. A couple of bad beats and missed draws and that will happen.